Pretty Little Apron

white vinegar

Greek Pasta Salad

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This Greek Pasta Salad Recipe is the perfect picnic or get together tag a long! With my secret ingredient, this salad brings the flavor and is easy to throw together at the last minute.

Greek Pasta Salad Recipe This Greek Pasta Salad is my favorite! My secret ingredient, the brine of the feta cheese, takes this recipe to the next level. I have tried Greek Pasta Salad with the brine and without the brine, and my WITH brine recipe is 100% my favorite of all time pasta salad. The saltiness of the feta paired with a hint of sweetness from the tomatoes and a delicious homemade dressing makes for the perfect pasta salad. If you aren’t familiar with what I am talking about, you can buy feta cheese in a brine, which will be a liquid substance that the cheese is in. I prefer Feta in brine because I feel like the crumbled feta can be a little dry and lacking flavor. In any recipe I am using Feta cheese I do prefer Feta in brine. Pasta salads are especially important because putting a little bit of the brine in with your dressing creates the perfect salty, delicious dressing to compliment the pasta, veggies, and feta cheese. If you are skeptical or just not feeling it, you can omit the brine but I’m telling you it is so good! Generally, I buy my Feta cheese at Wegman’s, because they always carry feta cheese in brine. I have struggled at other stores to find it all the time, but if I don’t see it in the regular cheese section I will always check the specialty cheese section and it is usually there. The crumbled feta just doesn’t compare so keep looking until you find it! 🙂 I have made this recipe with several different pasta varieties, but I like the orecchiette pasta the best. If you are looking for a swap, I would suggest rotini, small shells, or cavatappi. All of those pasta varieties have worked great for me in the past. The orecchiette creates a nice balance and that is why I prefer it but the others can certainly work too. Print
Greek Pasta Salad Recipe

Greek Pasta Salad

  • Author: Dana
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Description

A delicious, refreshing pasta salad that is a perfect side dish for any occasion.

Ingredients

1 pound orechiette pasta (rotini and shells work great too!)


1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 seedless cucumber

1/2 red onion

8 ounces feta cheese

1/4 cup feta cheese brine

1/2 lemon, squeezed

1/4 cup white vinegar

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp dried oregano

salt + pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Don’t forget to salt your pasta water!

For the dressing: Add 1/4 cup feta cheese brine, 1/2 lemon squeezed, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 tsp dried oregano, and a dash of salt and pepper to a large bowl, blender, or food processor. Slowly drizzle in 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. If you are using a bowl, whisk vigorously while you are drizzling in your olive oil. (I used my Vitamix.)

Chop cherry tomatoes, seedless cucumber, and 1/2 red onion and place in a large bowl with 8 ounces feta cheese, and cooked pasta. Pour dressing over ingredients and toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with additional salt + pepper + oregano if desired.

Store in an air-tight container for up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Recipe is best if made 1 day ahead of time to allow flavors to come together.

Keywords: Greek Pasta Salad

Greek Pasta Salad Recipe  

Summer Berry Pavlova

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Is it just me, or do you get really excited when berries start coming down in price during the summer months? FINALLY I don’t have to pay $8.99 for a big thing of strawberries!

This Summer Berry Pavlova is an awesome summer dessert. Perfect for just after grilling sessions on the back patio. I love it because it isn’t a super heavy dessert so it is perfect for hot summer nights. The fresh berries are refreshing and pack a little bit of nutrition into your dessert. I actually don’t feel too guilty about eating this dessert because it is far lighter then your standard cake.  It is finished with a dreamy dollop of fresh whipped cream. Summer eating doesn’t get any better then this! And seriously how beautiful are these to look at? If you are looking for a “WOW” factor dessert to take to a party this summer, this Summer Berry Pavlova is just that.

Typically, Pavlova is made with a larger meringue circle, however I love a mini dessert. If you’d like to make one large meringue disk, simply pipe in one big circle. You can use an icing spatula to create peaks or patterns if you want it to look super fancy. With all the beautiful, bright berries it is so easy to make this dessert look beautiful without spending too much time on decorating! If you make one large meringue disk, just pile up your berries and whipped cream on top, and slice it like a cake.

 

Meringue Making Tips

Meringue is easy to make, so don’t be intimidated! Above are the 3 stages of whipping the meringue:

  1. Soft peaks
  2. 1/2 the sugar added
  3. Finished

Your meringue will be nice and glossy when it is finished. If you rub a little between your fingers you shouldn’t feel any grit of sugar. I took a spatula and very gently put it into my piping bag fitted with a Ateco 850 tip. Sometimes people take a cup or bowl and make circles on their parchment paper with a sharpie (flip the parchment paper over then so that the marker won’t get on your meringue) as a guide. I didn’t feel this was necessary because I didn’t care if they weren’t all exactly the same as they were just for my family. My kids have no idea what meringue even is, so they would never look at them and wonder why they aren’t the same. The perks of your audience being babies and toddlers! 🙂

 

Italian Avocado Salad

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This Italian Avocado Salad is everything avocado dreams are made of! Delicious, fresh ingredients, with a creamy homemade Italian dressing…. you really can’t go wrong here! Pair it with your favorite protein and you have a delicious meal! 🙂


I was at the grocery store today and had in my mind that I’d like to make an avocado salad with my Creamy Italian Dressing recipe. I have been trying to find new ways to eat avocados because of all the health benefits. This recipe is an avocado home run!

Not only was the recipe delicious, I found the PERFECT bag of avocados. Not too mushy, but not un-ripe. Small seeded so that one side doesn’t have to be completely uprooted to remove the seed. The skins peeled right off. I mean, in the avocado world I basically hit the jackpot! I was peeling those babies like YESSS this is avocado life.

*Side note: You should start peeling your avocados! A lot of the good nutrients are right under the skin and when we scoop them out instead of peeling we loose important stuff. Peeling also allows you to cut some pretty impressive chunks for this salad. I simply slice the avocado in half, then slice it into chunks when it is still in the peel. If your avocado is perfectly ripe you should be able to start peeling it from one of the edges. If you are finding it hard, slice the little nugget on the end off and you should be able to start peeling.

Italian Avocado Salad

Keto Diet Update

This is the part where I talk about my diet, so if you aren’t interested just scroll. 🙂

I mentioned in my Keto Approved Burger post that I started the Keto diet. I’ll be 100% honest here, it hasn’t been unicorns and rainbows. I’ve had some ups and downs due to breastfeeding and being concerned about the safety during this time. I’ve gotten off track quite a few times but somehow I always seem to reset and start again. I’m on a roll this time, and hoping to continue!

Italian Avocado Salad

Storing Your Italian Avocado Salad

We all know that avocados can brown very quickly! The dressing in this salad prevents this to a certain degree. I would suggest making the salad at the time you are going to eat it, and finishing it within a day or two. I’ve stored mine overnight and had no browning/turning to mush but the second day I finished it.

If you are making the salad for a gathering or picnic I would suggest putting it together 1-2 hours before you go. A bit of time in the refrigerator is great because it allows the flavors to come together, but isn’t enough time for the avocado to start looking funky.

One More Thing

My Creamy Italian Dressing recipe yields about 2 cups of dressing, which is a lot more then you will need for this salad. I cut the original recipe in half for this salad and it was plenty. If you’d like to have some extra dressing (it is super delicious), then you can double the dressing ingredients. In my original recipe I was using a food processor to make the dressing, however I no longer have that (long story), so I just used a bowl and a whisk. The food processor makes a thicker dressing, but you certainly can get away with just whisking super vigorously and making sure you pour your oil in slowly. I also omitted the red pepper flakes because I just didn’t think they would mesh well with the avocado.